Patti Smith kicks off new era at historic Golden State Theatre in Monterey

Correction: An earlier version of this story was missing a word in a quote. The correct quote is, ""He told me 'This is a big ol' elephant, you can't eat it all in one sitting. You just slowly chew on it until you eventually get through it.'"

If you're going to start a new era at the historic Golden State Theatre in Monterey, why not do it with a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Patti Smith, the "Goddess of Punk" in the early '60s and a 2007 Hall inductee, performs Tuesday night to kick off a promising new direction in the history of the oft-problematic venue in downtown Monterey.

Smith will perform "acoustic" with her band, but since Tuesday is John Lennon's birthday and Smith is a huge fan, she will celebrate the rock icon's legacy by playing several of his songs along with her own.

"She just sold out the Fillmore and the only Northern California show she's doing is at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass," said Britt Govea of FolkYEAH! Presents, which is co-producing the show with the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur. "She is doing an acoustic show, but with a band, she'll have her full rhythm section. She's a big John Lennon fan so she'll be doing some John Lennon songs. And Patti has a history with the library and it was her choice to do the Golden State Theatre. So all that makes this show extra, extra special."

Smith performed a benefit concert for the library at Sunset Center in 2005, the last time she performed in the area.

The Smith concert is the first big-name concert to kick off new management of the 85-year-old theater in the heart of downtown Monterey.

Taking the reins last month were Scott Grover, founder and president of The Alternative Cafe and now general manager, and his partner, attorney Brian Turlington, from theater owner Warren Dewey, who still owns the structure he bought in 2004. All three will be part of the oversight committee, as will a number of investors.

Grover and his crew have already staged several concerts in the lobby of the theater, drawing small crowds of under 40 people to concerts of mostly up-and-coming indie rock groups.

"I've been hoping for this for a very long time," said Grover, sitting in his second-story office at the theater. "As Warren said, it just seems like the stars are aligned. In fact, eveythings been going so quickly I haven't had time to step back and take it all in. But that's a good thing."

Grover, his team and several booking partners, including Govea's FolkYEAH! and David Lefkowitz of prominent Bay Area agency Goldenvoice, have ambitious plans for the theater, including three to four main stage acts a month, as well as a few shows a week in the lobby, plus art shows, comedy and theater, film screenings and festivals and virtually any type of events that could utilize a theater.

"I want this place to have as robust a calendar as I was able to achieve at the Alternative Cafe, which is 20-25 gigs a month. That's my goal," said Grover. "There's really no end to the ideas."

One of those ideas is to take the theater and make it flexible enough to become five venues.

"Ultimately, I want to consider this place as five different venues under one roof," he said. "That opens the door for anything we want to do and gives us the flexibility to book accordingly."

Grover said the lobby can accommodate under 50; add the mezzanine and it can hold 150; the whole theater seats 1,000; eliminate the balcony for some shows and you have a 700-seat venue; then drop a curtain from the balcony and it becomes an intimate 300-seat venue.

"We've been working with George Edwards of the Bay Area's Delicate Sound," Grover said about Edwards, a former Peninsula resident who runs a respected sound company that works with artists such as Metallica and Mariah Carey, among others. "He told me 'This is a big ol' elephant, you can't eat it all in one sitting. You just slowly chew on it until you eventually get through it.'"

So instead of pouring huge amounts of money into sound, lighting and other equipment, "we incrementally add elements until we find the sweet spot for this particular building."

Although the Mumford and Sons' Steinbeck event (which only had three brief acoustic music breaks) was unofficially the first big event, Smith's show will be the first to showcase a full-on concert. Other shows on the books include L.A. Latin/funk/hip-hop group Ozomatli, John Prine and Justin Townes Earle, Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepard and Bob Weir and Jackie Greene.

Oher twists include a small VIP area in the rear in which patrons can order food delivered from the adjacent Sushi Moto and Koko's gyro cafe and a drink ticket program with the bar My Attic across the street in which patrons can get a discount on the signature "Golden State Shooter." His beer and wine license may be in place for the Smith show ("80 percent chance").

In addition to FolkYEAH! (which has had great success booking shows at Fernwood and the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, including Tuesday night's Alanis Morissette concert) and Goldenvoice, Grover said he has an "incredibly advantageous" relationship with Paradigm booking agency, which books huge acts such as Aerosmith and the Black Eyed Peas and which has a branch in Monterey.

"I'm definitely up for the challenge and very happy to lend my perspective," said Lefkowitz, whose Goldenvoice was involved in bringing Mumford & Sons and its Gentlemen of the Road tour to Monterey. "It's actually turned into a unique situation for us. We are in no way taking over the venue. We have an arrangement that benefits both of us and gives us both a lot of incentives to do things and still allow the venue to do its own thing. And I'm hoping to be involved in more things in that region than just the Golden State Theatre."

Smith, who is perhaps best known for "Because the Night," a song she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen, is not only considered one of the mothers of punk rock, but she is a poet, author, actress, artist and photographer.

Rolling Stone named her No. 47 in "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time," artists such as REM's Michael Stipe, Madonna, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Morrisey and Johnny Marr of The Smiths and KT Tunstall have named her as major influences and her "Horses" and "Easter" albums are considered rock classics.

Her book, "Just Kids," a memoir of her time in 1970s Manhattan and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2010.

Smith's "People Have the Power" was used for the big celebrity jam that traditionally ends the program at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2011 she was awarded the Polar Music Prize, which celebrated her artistry: "By devoting her life to art in all its forms, Patti Smith has demonstrated how much rock 'n' roll there is in poetry and how much poetry there is in rock'n'roll. Patti Smith is a Rimbaud with Marshall amps. She has transformed the way an entire generation looks, thinks and dreams. With her inimitable soul of an artist, Patti Smith proves over and over again that people have the power."